To think it’s actually hard to live off this for the rest of the month?!

Buy white flour, plain flour, self raising flour, and a spice set. Then you can make lots of meals. I made a post with the recipes I want to make in my post about recipes.

You’ve probably been frittering your money away on treats and convenience food. Plan your meals for seven days making sure that three main meals are double/ triple quantities so that you can pop them in the freezer for those days when you don’t have time to cook.

This is an opportunity.

And I have £32 cashback on Topcashback which I can use too.

I do the Microsoft rewards it takes a while to collect the points, but I have £30-£40 that I can use for ecards for money off amazon or supermarket shops.

Wood's resistance to bacteria is why woodlands need a huge suite of lichens and mycorrhiza and macrofungi and insects and other microfauna to break down the dead wood. And why in turn they are good habitats for birds.

rowandsons.co.uk/blogs/information/myth-or-fact-the-antibacterial-properties-of-wood

Interesting, when was the last time you went for a walk in the woods? Woods that are famously not buried 10m deep in old fallen branches and trees, due to the biodegradable nature of wood, in other words, due to the way it is so easily broken down by bacteria and fungi....

OP - I've just done a supermarket delivery shop to stock up on the store cupboard (pasta, pesto, tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, tuna etc).

I got 110 items for £165 after £9 of reductions/deals. There isn't much meat, but £15 is loo roll, kitchen roll and detergent. It's a lot of food for £150, buying carefully and taking advantage of price matches.

There's a delivery charge on top, but buying online helps reduce the anxiety of being there in person, and getting tempted and distracted.

Yes beech does. Which why it’s been traditionally used in kitchen tools.

Some woods absolutely DO have anti bacterial properties

Not weird. Scientific, known about for decades. Go read up. It doesn't matter so much wrt spoons, but plastic chopping boards are very dirty and potentially dangerous things with all manner of dodgy microbes retained in microscopic cuts that can't be reached by dishwashers or by manual washing.

Wood really does have antibacterial properties and has been proven to be more hygienic than plastic due its ability to kill bacteria which plastic doesn't have. Something to do with microbes, but I'm not a scientist so I don't understand how, I just know it does. Wooden chopping boards are much better than plastic ones for this reason.

Plastic and silicone are everywhere, but I have tried a variety of supermarkets for wooden spoons to no avail, it is also nigh on impossible to get a decent wooden fork. I think I will have to find a fallen branch and whittle one myself. I always put wooden utensils in the dishwasher and they are fine. I don't like plastic for cooking as it gives off a toxic waste above a certain temperature which can cause liver damage and I already have gin if I want any sort of liver damage. Some plastic contains BPA which is bad for your health, I know Sistema's storage boxes and water bottles don't, so I use those. There is an IKEA near me, it is next on my list for getting stuff for my home. I am having to furnish and equip my new place from scratch. The only things I have from the old one are an extensive vinyl album and CD collection (though no record player) and a few pictures and ornaments. Absolutely nothing of any practical value whatsoever. I bought a bed the other day, at least now I can move in and have somewhere to kip so in the great scheme of things the lack of a wooden spoon is the least of my worries.

The hunt continues.

Lol, antibacterial, what have you been smoking, wood resin?

We put wooden spoons in the dishwasher because OH is obsessed with the thing but they all come out smelling of 'dishwasher'.

Same with my silicon spoons.

In no sense what so ever is wood "naturally antibacterial". What a weird thing to say

Wood is generally safer than plastic and naturally antibacterial - wooden spoons are fine in the dishwasher.

Just about any larger supermarket plus Range, IKEA, bargain shops and Dunelm will sell these or more likely plastic ones which are more hygienic and dishwasher safe.
Not hard to find at all.

I'm all for reduction of single use plastics but sometimes plastic is exactly a product needs to be made of.

Hand held stick blenders rock for soups or smoothies, and if you get one of the ones Aldi and Lidl have in the centre aisle quite regularly that have a mini food processor you'll be able to make pate, and puree, and chop veg finely, and do herby breadcrumbs for toppings and stuffing, and all sorts of good things.

Also a handheld stick blender. Great for soup. Chop an onion, fry in a saucepan with a bit of oil, i add small chunks of potato too for thickness, add any veg you have, frozen is fine too and some stock (cube or stockpot is fine), simmer for 20 mins or until it's soft with some salt , pepper, and any other dried herbs you fancy. Blitz with blender when done, you.cam make it smooth or chunky by blending less. Cheap, tasty and filling. I like leek and potato, pea and ham, lentil, dp likes butternut squash. Whatever you have is fine.

Amazon have wooden spoons if you can't find any in a shop.

I think the last time I bought some top-up wooden spoons it was in Flying Tiger. Charity shops here (Ireland) are good for miscellaneous cooking stuff, particularly Pyrex, which I love because it will go in the oven, microwave or freezer without problem.

These things are just what I bought yesterday, there are quite a few things I still need to get, not least some plates and cups otherwise I will be eating my food straight out of the pan I cook it in. Hopefully I am moving in on Sunday so I will have to pull my finger out and get them soon.

I've been looking for a wooden spoon or two and a wooden fork, but to no avail. You used to be able to get them in a set of 3 or 4 but I can't find any. If anyone knows where I can buy some please let me know.

You could try starting with the dry packet mixes. I like Coleman’s but there are various others.

They all have directions on the back and tell you exactly what ingredients to get and how to mix / cook them. If you don’t own any herbs / spices (which it sounds like you don’t), they make for a good shortcut while you build up your store cupboard. They are more expensive than cooking from scratch but a lot less expensive than ready meals.

I'd add a couple of metal baking trays and a pyrex rectangular dish for tray bakes to the list, but @VeryHappyBunny 's list is good.

Spatula, wooden spoon, potato masher and whisk too for when you get going.

Potatoes - you can scrub them clean and chop them to boil them, or prick them and bake them. You don't need to peel potatoes to make something of them.

If you do want to peel them, and you don't have a potato peeler, a small vegetable knife is fine. Just take it slowly!

As for baked potatoes: I microwave baked potatoes and then crisp them up in the oven at the end.

Potato, butter, tuna, mayo, sprinkling of salt and pepper - a complete meal, and filling!